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hysteria

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hys⋅te⋅ri⋅a

  [hi-ster-ee-uh, -steer-]
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–noun
1. an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.
2. Psychoanalysis. a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks, disturbances of sensory and motor functions, and various abnormal effects due to autosuggestion.
3. Psychiatry. conversion disorder.
Compare mass hysteria.

Origin:
1795–1805; hyster(ic) + -ia
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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hys·ter·i·a   (hĭ-stěr'ē-ə, -stîr'-)   
n.  
  1. Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic.
  2. A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability and sometimes by amnesia or a physical deficit, such as paralysis, or a sensory deficit, without an organic cause.

[New Latin : hyster(ic) + -ia1.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Hysteria

Hys*te"ri*a\, n. [NL.: cf. F. hyst['e]rie. See Hysteric.] (Med.) A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits.

Note: The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing, and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the throat. The affection presents the most varied symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment alone.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : hysteria
Spanish: histeria,
German: die Hysterie,
Japanese: ヒステリー症
More Translations »

hysteria

A complex neurosis in which psychological conflict is turned into physical symptoms, such as amnesia, blindness, and paralysis, that have no underlying physical cause. Early in his career, Sigmund Freud worked on hysteria.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Main Entry: hys·te·ria
Pronunciation: his-'ter-E-&, -'tir-
Function: noun
1 a : a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitabilityand disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions without an organic basis b : a similar condition in domestic animals
2 : behaviorexhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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hysteria hys·ter·i·a (hĭ-stěr'ē-ə, -stēr'-)
n.

  1. A neurosis characterized by the presentation of a physical ailment without an organic cause, such as amnesia.
  2. Excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear.
hys·ter'ic (hĭ-stěr'ĭk) or hys·ter'i·cal (hĭ-stěr'ĭ-kəl) adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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